The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
The academic treatment for English-speakers who get that soccer is more than gamedays, stars and goals. Who wonder about the histories, subcultures and politics that make the game so different from many American sports cultures; and who care about a critical take on soccer as a global capitalist machine. A European-guided journey, with one expert "visiting professor" each episode.
The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
FC St.Pauli: Rebellion and Commercialization, Punk and Social Work
FC St. Pauli is a 2nd Bundesliga team from Hamburg. That’s one thing. It is also "Germany’s original cult club," an "antifascist pioneer," the "club of punk and techno, or a "swashbuckling left wing club." The history behind these labels begin in the late 1980s, when punks occupied houses around St. Pauli’s stadium and antiracists found out that football grounds didn't just belong to Neonazis. It continues today, in a club that has spoken out against the overcommercialization of football, or as an ally to refugees, and in a fan culture that defines and defends its antifascist ties between neighboring Bremen and faraway Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Fanladen St Pauli connects the then and now. It's a fan-run and, very uniquely, social-worker led project with deep ties of accountability and advocacy to the club, its fanculture and the public, and deep roots in the community.
Julian and Paul from the Fanladen offer the lens of activist fans and knowledgable social workers to discuss what works at FC St. Pauli, some history, but also the dangers of the internationalization and commercialization of St. Pauli’s rebellious image. This is also the first TAoF episode that dropped sociologist Benedict Anderson's name - and it wasn't me who dropped it!
HELPFUL LINKS:
Highlights, with English commentary, from GAK - Sturm (2-3) on 11/2
Fanladen/Fan Project St. Pauli, website in English
Charles Vinas and Natxo Parra, St. Pauli: Another Football is Possible (Pluto Press, 2020) - review by Jacobin Magazine
The Guardian (2018), "FC St Pauli: how it became the football team of punk and techno"
Die Sterne - Wenn Dir St. Pauli auf den Geist fällt (This music video was filmed at the Millerntor stadium, pre-renovation)
St. Pauli enters the field to AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” in the Hamburg derby
St. Pauli - goal and goal music
Nina Glick Schiller, "Long Distance Nationalism
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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/